Bali Query

Jake Brumby was alert one morning last week, when this very odd Indonesian Consular Corps passed him in traffic. iPhone at the ready, he grabbed this shot.

Expiry being apparently in the 68th. month of 2001 leads you to the suspicion that this false-plate maker doesn’t know a lot about his subject! Or is it something NEW?

Usually, Indonesian Consulars are thus:

where 12 is the US embassy and 22 indicates that the driver is 22nd. in line for the Big Job if it ever becomes free. His plate ran out of tax in July 2012.

But regional Consulars are coded for their locality which in this case is the DK code for Denpasar, the BALI capital. 42 tells us that there is a Mexican consulate there, and 01 would be the Consul himself. Not a bad posting!

Maybe they run out of consular volunteers sometimes and pull in a few Honorary Consuls, because Indonesia makes a special plate for them……

and before the thin tin plate design commenced years ago, the original Netherlands Indies designs were in use, and show the family history.

Note also how cameras have improved since the 1960s!

The country sports some of the most baroque military and police plates in the world, and because it’s a laid-back place, the cops don’t mind you photographing them. Try this in Moscow!

Roman numerals, indeed!

And what did Mr. Karel Stoel have to say about the Spice Islands? Plenty – including BA-439

Sumatra West – on another of those Auburns which Jean-Emmanuel found in Guadeloupe!